Celestial Xia, Binyun Upper Continent.
In the past, when the Turbid Tide had run rampant, beyond the continent lay vast, uninhabited wilderness. Now, great swathes of verdure carpeted the land, and herds of living creatures raced across the plains. Beneath the azure heavens, lakes large and small lay scattered across the sprawling Earth Continent like scattered pearls, and all between heaven and earth brimmed with vibrant life.
A humming sound drifted down from the sky, like the faint chirping of insects. Pebbles on the ground began to bounce, while the creatures in the grass seemed to have been frightened by something and scattered in every direction.
Before long, ripples stirred through the air, and more than ten flying vessels emerged less than a hundred feet above the ground.
As the light around their hulls receded, the flying vessels slowly descended, finally coming to a hover less than an inch above the ground. Looking down from high above, one could see crystalline jade-like creations floating farther out across the wilderness, faintly encircling this stretch of airspace.
At that moment, the cabin doors of the flying vessels melted open one after another. Metal giants stepped out, their entire bodies gleaming with a dark blue radiance, their proportions perfectly balanced. Behind them came two rows of stern-faced soldiers in military uniforms.
Once the soldiers had disembarked, they immediately spread out around the area, standing guard in alert formations and facing every direction. Creation dragonflies also flew from the vessels and patrolled the surroundings, as though they were on the strictest guard.
From one of the flying vessels, two soldiers then pushed down a dark casket, roughly ten feet long and wide. Its surface reflected no light at all. It seemed neither metal nor stone, and only lines of interlocking seams could be seen